Apple is looking to Japanese manufacturers for supplies of DRAM and NAND flash memory as the company tries to reduce its reliance on Samsung, reports claim.

Apple is reportedly trying to decrease its reliance on DRAM and NAND flash memory modules supplied by Samsung in the wake of a legal dispute with the company, it has been claimed.

According to Digitimes, Apple is increasingly looking to Japanese suppliers Toshiba and Elpida Memory for supplies of NAND flash memory and DRAM modules respectively.

Apple and Samsung are currently locked in a dispute over patent infringement in dozens of countries around the world, with Apple claiming that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes on several patents it owns.

Samsung, meanwhile, has launched a counter-attack on Apple, and is also reported to be preparing to launch another legal onslaught on Apple when the next-generation iPhone is launched.

Samsung remains the largest supplier of NAND flash memory, with around a third of the global market, and also has a 40 percent share of the DRAM market.

According to Reuters, Samsung has just started mass production at a new $10 billion NAND flash memory chip line which it hopes will enable it to lower the cost of producing the modules and attrack more customers, allowing it to increase its market share.